5A tournament to play two quarterfinals, semis Saturday

5A tournament to play two quarterfinals, semis Saturday

It’s a theme dozens of high school baseball players shared Friday afternoon as area showers transformed the LHSAA Class 5A baseball tournament at Tulane’s Turchin Stadium into a soggy situation.

If the remaining teams are lucky, the nursery rhyme might allow the tournament to be completed this weekend.

“Our guys were real excited to play today, a little disappointed that it was raining,” Brother Martin coach Mark Wisniewski said. “But we’ll be patient and wait until we need to play.”

Ninth-seeded West Monroe led top-seeded Barbe 6-0 with two outs in the top of the first inning when showers emptied the field and stands. The rain delay lasted 5 hours, 36 minutes until 7:43. West Monroe won 13-4 and will face Catholic at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Meanwhile, 10th-seeded Zachary will have to wait until at 10 a.m. Saturday to face 18th-seeded St. Amant. Third-seeded Brother Martin, the lone New Orleans team in the 5A tournament, will follow with its game against sixth-seeded San Houston at 1 p.m.

Semifinals games will follow at 4 and 7 p.m. The championship game will be played at Sunday with the time to be announced. The schedule, is subject to more weather changes.

Catholic escaped the worst of the inclement weather, defeating Sulphur in the first game. Barbe and West Monroe endured a 52-minute rain delay, which emptied the stadium and postponed the remaining quarterfinal games.

“We’re trying to get some work in,” Zachary coach Jesse Cassard said. “It’s something that you have to deal with. In baseball, you have to deal with weather. We’re not going to let it affect us. We just rolling with it.”

Same goes for St. Amant.

Coach Troy Templet wants his Gators to treat Saturday’s schedule like a preseason or weekend tournament where his guys might play two games in two days, even three games in two days. If St. Amant is able to win its sixth 5A title — and first since 2004 — they will have to follow this path.

“If we’re here to win it, we’ll do everything we can to stay focused and be ready to play,” Templet said. “Now, there’s no telling what’s going to happen, but you have to be ready.”